streberkatze's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexism
old_crockern's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Old fashioned police drama, bit dated in attitude and character.
fictionfan's review
4.0
A slice of life…
As fog rolls over the Thames a barge bearing a cargo of boxes ostensibly full of rubber breaks free from the tug pulling it, and tips its load into the river, later to be washed up along the banks. Meantime, an old woman dies, apparently from suicide. But Detective Sergeant Chandler isn’t convinced – he thinks it might be murder. Meantime the river police are finding there’s something strange about the boxes that are being found along the river…
This book from 1938 has a rather different feel to it than the usual Golden Age mystery. Although there are two separate police investigations going on, it’s not what we’d think of as a police procedural, and yet it’s a bit too slow and thoughtful to be a thriller either. Also, the reader has a much better idea of what’s going on than the police because we are taken round all the various characters involved, being made privy to things the police haven’t yet found out. So there’s no real surprise about the solution to the crime element when it comes.
It’s really more of a look at the social conditions of those people struggling to live on the margins of post-depression pre-war poverty in the docklands beside the Thames. The plot revolves around the trade in illegally smuggled drugs – that’s not a spoiler since it’s made quite clear from early on. Both these aspects feel very realistic, the drugs plot especially feeling much more true to life than the often glamourized or exaggerated picture of it in fiction. Here it’s simply a case of unscrupulous people making money off the miserable addiction of others. Yes, there are murders done when they feel at risk, but no shoot-outs between rival gangs or king-pins taking revenge and so on. This is business – sordid and nasty, but simply business. We are also shown the addict’s view – the misery of it and how people are gradually driven to cross boundaries of behaviour in their desperate need to satisfy their cravings.
We also get a look at the pre-NHS health system, where poor people chose doctors on the basis of how cheap they were, and doctors could do little to alleviate the kinds of illness brought on by poverty and the appalling air of foggy, sooty, dirty London.
All of this is done very well – worked into the story rather than simply dumped on the reader. There is also some quite good characterisation of a few of the working-class residents of the area, in particular of three people caught up unknowingly in the mystery – a young man and the girl he’s trying to woo, and the girl’s young brother, who more than anything wants a ride in the river police’s boat. They humanise the story a little, and it needs it, because otherwise it’s a rather grim and miserable tale. A slice of life that happily most of us will never live, but not so far removed from the everyday as to make it seem unrecognisable.
It’s well written and the social commentary aspect is very strong. It seemed to me quite unusual for the era in its concentration on the poor and the working-class – most Golden Age mysteries tend to feature the middle-class, and their working-class characters are often cringe-makingly caricatured. Here they felt true – neither idealised nor denigrated for their poverty or the way they spoke or behaved. Unfortunately the actual crime side of it didn’t work so well for me – it felt rather like an add-on to give the social aspects a focus, and I’m never a huge fan of the type of crime novel where the reader knows more than the detectives. However, it was my first introduction to Josephine Bell, and I enjoyed it enough to want to read more, to see if this kind of rather gritty realism is typical of her style.
NB I received a free copy of the book without obligation to review from the publisher, the British Library.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
As fog rolls over the Thames a barge bearing a cargo of boxes ostensibly full of rubber breaks free from the tug pulling it, and tips its load into the river, later to be washed up along the banks. Meantime, an old woman dies, apparently from suicide. But Detective Sergeant Chandler isn’t convinced – he thinks it might be murder. Meantime the river police are finding there’s something strange about the boxes that are being found along the river…
This book from 1938 has a rather different feel to it than the usual Golden Age mystery. Although there are two separate police investigations going on, it’s not what we’d think of as a police procedural, and yet it’s a bit too slow and thoughtful to be a thriller either. Also, the reader has a much better idea of what’s going on than the police because we are taken round all the various characters involved, being made privy to things the police haven’t yet found out. So there’s no real surprise about the solution to the crime element when it comes.
It’s really more of a look at the social conditions of those people struggling to live on the margins of post-depression pre-war poverty in the docklands beside the Thames. The plot revolves around the trade in illegally smuggled drugs – that’s not a spoiler since it’s made quite clear from early on. Both these aspects feel very realistic, the drugs plot especially feeling much more true to life than the often glamourized or exaggerated picture of it in fiction. Here it’s simply a case of unscrupulous people making money off the miserable addiction of others. Yes, there are murders done when they feel at risk, but no shoot-outs between rival gangs or king-pins taking revenge and so on. This is business – sordid and nasty, but simply business. We are also shown the addict’s view – the misery of it and how people are gradually driven to cross boundaries of behaviour in their desperate need to satisfy their cravings.
We also get a look at the pre-NHS health system, where poor people chose doctors on the basis of how cheap they were, and doctors could do little to alleviate the kinds of illness brought on by poverty and the appalling air of foggy, sooty, dirty London.
All of this is done very well – worked into the story rather than simply dumped on the reader. There is also some quite good characterisation of a few of the working-class residents of the area, in particular of three people caught up unknowingly in the mystery – a young man and the girl he’s trying to woo, and the girl’s young brother, who more than anything wants a ride in the river police’s boat. They humanise the story a little, and it needs it, because otherwise it’s a rather grim and miserable tale. A slice of life that happily most of us will never live, but not so far removed from the everyday as to make it seem unrecognisable.
It’s well written and the social commentary aspect is very strong. It seemed to me quite unusual for the era in its concentration on the poor and the working-class – most Golden Age mysteries tend to feature the middle-class, and their working-class characters are often cringe-makingly caricatured. Here they felt true – neither idealised nor denigrated for their poverty or the way they spoke or behaved. Unfortunately the actual crime side of it didn’t work so well for me – it felt rather like an add-on to give the social aspects a focus, and I’m never a huge fan of the type of crime novel where the reader knows more than the detectives. However, it was my first introduction to Josephine Bell, and I enjoyed it enough to want to read more, to see if this kind of rather gritty realism is typical of her style.
NB I received a free copy of the book without obligation to review from the publisher, the British Library.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
maddie_kelly's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
An Inspector Calls meets Brighton Rock (in a good way).
michelleful's review
4.0
Read this for a book club. Written and set in 1930s working-class London, this is a mixture of realistic fiction and police procedural. The beginning is atmospheric and inserts you right into the time and place, but it was hard to appreciate because it introduced a lot of characters and their circumstances without a clue as to what the mystery would be. I found myself going, okay, where's the corpse, over and over until finally the murder happened, quite a ways into the book.
Afterwards, the detection element was relatively dispersed over several sleuth characters - several policemen for the most part, plus a young boy. Because there's no genius sleuth leaping to insightful conclusions, and rather a more standard police investigation written in an omniscient POV, I found myself going multiple times. But again, it's the realism, the feeling of being transported back in time and place, the insight into the lives of the poor and working class characters that are mostly absent from detective fiction of that era, that really made the book. 4*.
Afterwards, the detection element was relatively dispersed over several sleuth characters - several policemen for the most part, plus a young boy. Because there's no genius sleuth leaping to insightful conclusions, and rather a more standard police investigation written in an omniscient POV, I found myself going
Spoiler
"check the basement of the old woman's house!"mgeake's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
amalia1985's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
‘’It was quite dark now, but lights twinkled everywhere, making bright oath across the black water. And far away on all sides, a red and orange glow covered the sky, shining steadily on the vast labyrinth of London.’’
The San Angelo arrives in the Pool of London and sets a rather peculiar (and exciting for us readers) chain of events in motion. A young boy finds himself in danger and is rescued by a young man who falls in love with a brilliant girl. In the meantime, members of the upper class, corrupted salesmen and striving families complete a puzzle of murders, dark motives and...nightdresses.
Set during the harsh months of November and December, Josephine Bell (Doris Bell Collier) creates a mystery that isn’t just another Crime story but also a poignant and elegant social study within the communities living alongside Father Thames. Families suffering from constant afflictions, cramped inside suffocating rooms, girls who trust the wrong men, corrupted members of a strange society. Fast-paced and developed through a series of mysterious events, this mystery has all the proper ingredients of a good old British Crime novel. A fascinating heroine, a gallant, honest young man, agonising policemen, rich and spoiled young women, unreliable suitors. June and Harry are wonderful characters, but the real protagonist of London and the many forms of its gritty, secretive underbelly.
Beautiful Introduction by Martin Edwards, as always.
I want a BBC/ITV series dedicated to the amazing British Library Crime Classics squad and I want it now!
‘’The side streets are empty except for the piles of rubbish left by the stalls and swept into heaps against the curb. The main road is empty too. A few dirty papers blow backwards and forwards across it, a few people in Sunday clothes walk slowly along the pavement; a few trams clank past bearing visitors to distant families, uncomfortable in stiff collars and unyielding best shoes. The blocks of houses and shops, equally closed and silent, look drearier than ever.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
emmasbookishcorner's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Dockland residents, Harry Reed and June Harvey are thrust together by a riverside accident. On the surface the accident seems innocent enough but it leads to a series of dark events that the pair become embroiled in.
I loved this. I had such huge enjoyment reading this mystery. The story starts off with lots of little threads - a shipping accident, an apparent suicide, a missing policeman, pink nightdresses - slowly they all end up being woven together into a tapestry of murky riverside dealings. It was incredibly pleasing to see how everything came together.
Written in 1938, not only is this a cracking mystery but it also acts as a social portrait. A late 1930’s dockside London is brought to life in all it’s dingy, overcrowded glory. Josephine Bell offers readers a perfect slice of the working class existence, the struggle for food and warmth, the derelict housing and the tearaway youths finding entertainment on the shores of the Thames.
Coupled with a superb cover and an insightful introduction from Golden Age expert, Martin Edwards, The Port of London Murders is a superb addition to the British Library Crime Classics series. It encapsulates everything I love with this series – a splash of social history, colourful characters, tremendous writing, intriguing twists and a jolly good mystery